1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to generally to bicycle pedals and in particular, to bicycle pedals specifically configured and adapted to accommodate a variety of bicycle shoe cleats, particularly for spin bikes (e.g., exercise bicycles).
2. Description of the Related Art
The continuing development of modern bicycles has resulted today in bikes being available to the general public with a wide variety of pedal designs. Early designs of bicycle pedals consisted of a flat pedal shape with a toe frame that fitted most cyclist's shoes, and included a strap called a toe clip or other connecting means that fixed or fastened the toes of the cyclist's shoes to the pedals. Cycling shoes were typically of a running shoe design and were not specifically designed for cycling.
In modern bicycle pedal designs this arrangement has been superseded by more precise mechanisms that lock the pedal onto special cleats which are fastened to the base of the cyclist's shoes. These new designs are commonly referred to as “clip-less” pedal/cleat designs because they replace the original toe clips. Using these new designs, the cyclist mounts the bicycle, places his shoe cleat onto the pedal and the pedal/cleat combination snaps or locks together creating a stable connection between the cyclist's feet and the bicycle pedal.
Various designs of pedal/cleat combinations are presently in use, which either lock rigidly together or allow various degrees of freedom of rotational motion between the pedal and the cleat, depending on the design. Manufacturers of pedals today typically produce pedal designs that require the use of special shoe cleats that lock onto or into their pedals only. This ensures to the manufacturer that the cyclist buys their particular combined pedal/cleat products. Generally, there are two types of cycling shoes: road and mountain. Mountain shoes typically have tread for ease of walking and a small slot with two female fasteners for attaching the small cleat. Conventional road shoes have no tread, and have a larger 3-hole pattern for attaching a larger cleat. In general, mountain shoes are easier to walk on, and road shoes are lighter and more stable.
Thus, modern cyclists require a particular design of matching shoe cleat to be worn on their cycling shoes in order to fit onto the pedals on their bicycles. Due to the better performance and ease of entry and exit of these new pedal/cleat designs, this is now the generally accepted standard in the case of the cyclist's own bicycle. Individual cyclists fit their preferred pedals onto their bicycles and fit the appropriate cleats onto their cycling shoes.
In recent years, there has been increasing interest and use of stationary exercise bicycles and many of the companies that manufacture road bicycles or other exercise equipment have also developed a line of stationary exercise bikes to meet this new demand. However, when these same pedal/cleat combinations developed initially for road bicycles are also used on the stationary cycling machines (or “spin-bikes” as they are commonly known) which are available in gyms or sports clubs, the cyclist is forced to use the appropriate cleat on his bicycle shoes.
This causes problems, as most cyclists prefer to use a particular brand and design of pedal/cleat combination on their road bicycles, and yet many cyclists have no choice but to purchase a new set of cycling shoes and install cleats that match the gym's spin bike pedals. Alternatively, cyclists may choose to bring their own pedals to the gym or exercise club and exchange the pedals on the stationary bike with their own pedals so they can use their own shoes and cleats to exercise. This practice is becoming less and less acceptable to gym instructors who do not want different riders to be changing pedals on their exercise bikes.
Manufacturers of spin bikes generally ensure that their own designs of pedal/cleat combinations are interchangeable. However, there is no interest on the part of these manufacturers to make their pedal/cleat designs compatible with any of their competitor's designs. This has created a serious inconvenience and difficulty in the use of spin bikes, which are used by a wide variety of cyclists and non-cyclists who are clients of a gym or exercise clubs. The clients of the gym or club wish to use their own particular brand of pedal/cleats and the gym can only offer a very limited selection.
Presently, the vast majority of road clipless pedals use one of three different cleats, typically known as Shimano Road™, Look Delta™, and Look Keo™. These three different road cleats vary enough in size and shape that they are not interchangeable, yet they are used in approximately equal numbers, each having about 25% of the world market. Two sided spin bike pedals are typically made for a Delta™ cleat on the road side and an SPD™ mountain bike cleat on the other. About 20 years ago, the majority of road bike pedals used the Delta™ cleat, but that percentage has consistently declined to the point where there is no road cleat that constitutes the majority of pedals sold anymore. Therefore, by dedicating the road side to any one of the three most popular cleats, about 75% of all road users will not fit that pedal, which is a big problem in spin classes for both riders and gym operators. State of the art cleat adapters are cumbersome to install and remove, sometimes get stuck on the rider's shoe and inadvertently twist out of the pedal, have an overly high profile when installed, and make the pedal hang in an orientation that causes it to be difficult to clip into the pedal. Regarding the mountain bike side of the pedal, the market is dominated by SPD™ cleats, so by making the mountain bike side of the pedal for this SPD™ cleat, about 80% of the world market will fit. The road bike side remains a big problem.
Generally, the exercise clubs offer the pedals sold to them with the exercise or spin bike by the particular spin bike manufacturer. To get around the problem, the gym may have to purchase spin bikes from a number of suppliers or change the pedals on their existing bikes to accommodate a wider variety of user preferences. However, depending on the group of cyclists for any particular spin class, inevitably, there are too many of one type of pedal and not enough of another. Typically, riders do not want to change their cleats for a spin class, although some resort to buying a spin class set of shoes and cleats instead of being able to use the bike shoes and cleats that they already have. Loaning shoes to spin class participants is a poor solution, as it costs the business time and money, and for hygiene reasons, many people do not like to wear borrowed shoes, particularly ones that have been sweated profusely in. Switching out pedals for each class is another possible solution, yet a great hassle for the business, time consuming, and can cause wear on the crank arm threads.
It would be desirable for a spin bike pedal to accommodate a greater percentage of clipless road pedal cleats without the use of adapters. It would further be desirable for a spin bike pedal to easily adjust to accommodate different clipless road pedal shoe cleats. When using adapters, it would also be desirable for a spin bike pedal to lock adapters into position and for the adapters to be manually removable in an easier way. Various aspects of the present disclosure address this particular need, as will be discussed in more detail below.